Just looked at the 2011 survival guide and saw feathers at the top of the DONT BRING list. I knew boas were prohibited... I am sad now because i spent a bunch of time making an awesome feather hat out of larger and stronger feathers, thinking it would hold up and not contribute to the moop factor. Anywho, guess I cannot bring it now, but out of curiosity has anyone used large/stonger feathers on an outfit before? did they hold?

I know there are tons of people that do rock feathers in some shape or form, I have seen them there with them and the pictures.

It's not so much the feathers, but the glue here. You get very high winds that can actually blow your head off your shoulders, so a few splotches of glue on your feathers would make quite a moopy mess. If you have real confidence in your gluing ability, I would double/triple reinforce the feathers and bring the hat along. The big concern is the foofy, fluffy feathers that come loose and are hard to pick up.

Some rules are meant just for stupid people. I'd go with Shambala's advice. As long as your construction is sound and tested, bring it. If you're concerned with gate confiscating it, make sure to pack it well.

JKhttp://www.mudskippercafe.comWhen I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle.Then I realised that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me.

At Element 11 there were two dudes who were hunting the feathered menace (I think they're called desert chickens), possibly firing them into peoples cars so they could understand just how much of a mess such infestations can cause.

You can use shaggy fur if you want a feathery alternative. Works great!

"The essence of tyranny is not iron law. It is capricious law." -- Christopher Hitchens

I am very confident in the design of the hat. I am even experimenting with hairspray on the feathers to help them hold up. I was watching wild bill and was inspired by an amazing headdress a native american was wearing then got the idea to put feathers along the brim of my Chinese style rice farmer hat to make the brim stick out another 7 inches. it looks great but i just got so excited about the project that i tottaly spaced the no feather rule. I may try to reinforce it further and then do a wind test holding the hat out of a speeding vehicle.... But i will probably just leave it at home

I dont want to be "that guy" and be ridiculed for bringing it out to the playa. It will probably just become my pre-compression/decompression hat.

nielse18 wrote:I am very confident in the design of the hat. I am even experimenting with hairspray on the feathers to help them hold up. I was watching wild bill and was inspired by an amazing headdress a native american was wearing then got the idea to put feathers along the brim of my Chinese style rice farmer hat to make the brim stick out another 7 inches. it looks great but i just got so excited about the project that i tottaly spaced the no feather rule. I may try to reinforce it further and then do a wind test holding the hat out of a speeding vehicle.... But i will probably just leave it at home

I dont want to be "that guy" and be ridiculed for bringing it out to the playa. It will probably just become my pre-compression/decompression hat.

Sounds like a good decision And welcome to Eplaya

Burning Man isn't about the stuff you see when you get there ....it's about the people that brought that stuff there

Gate will not confiscate it. They will turn your entire vehicle around and deny you entry. Your vehicle will be flagged and have extra scrutiny the next time it arrives. Repeat offenders may find that they are not allowed in at all.

nielse18 wrote:I am very confident in the design of the hat. I am even experimenting with hairspray on the feathers to help them hold up. I was watching wild bill and was inspired by an amazing headdress a native american was wearing then got the idea to put feathers along the brim of my Chinese style rice farmer hat to make the brim stick out another 7 inches. it looks great but i just got so excited about the project that i tottaly spaced the no feather rule. I may try to reinforce it further and then do a wind test holding the hat out of a speeding vehicle.... But i will probably just leave it at home If it I dont want to be "that guy" and be ridiculed for bringing it out to the playa. It will probably just become my pre-compression/decompression hat.

Good Call. I'd rather you not be that guy as well.

Besides if it were to moop, a member of the crew that ends up pain painstakingly picking up the mess off the playa by hand, may curse the creator of the moop. Do you really want that Playa voodoo?

Last edited by Clar-i-ty on Sat Aug 13, 2011 9:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Last year at gate my rider was wearing small earrings that had a single black feather on them.. like literally 1/2" long. Gate told her to ditch them quick or else they would be confiscated. They aren't messing around with the feather thing.

There are rules for not peeing on the playa and the reason for this is that they don't want 50,000 pissing on the playa and making muddy, sloppy pee puddles all over the place all week. Most everyone abides by this rule and uses the porta-potties, but there is that one time during the week where you are a mile from the potties and your bladder is going to burst.Rules are there for a reason, but there can be some flexibility. The feather rule is for the dopes who bring their pink boas to the playa and flap them around and let the feathers fly off. Securing large, hard feathers to a hat, and making sure that they're tightly fastened is not what the feather ban is all about. I know that as this event gets larger and larger, there is the need to keep the masses in line. We all get that glazed look in our eye as we repeat the obedience mantra, "if it not from your body, don't put it in the potty". While there is a huge reason for it, we are becoming managed sheep.This hat that's being made, is not what the feather ban is all about. There, I said it!

Packoderm wrote:Perhaps you can make a clear plexiglass enclosure that completely covers your head-wear and seals around your head - like a terrarium for your hat.

Haha, i actually thought about doing something similar to this, involving brightly colored mesh fabric that would encase the hat and ensure nothing escaped.

Shambala wrote:There are rules for not peeing on the playa and the reason for this is that they don't want 50,000 pissing on the playa and making muddy, sloppy pee puddles all over the place all week. Most everyone abides by this rule and uses the porta-potties, but there is that one time during the week where you are a mile from the potties and your bladder is going to burst.Rules are there for a reason, but there can be some flexibility. The feather rule is for the dopes who bring their pink boas to the playa and flap them around and let the feathers fly off. Securing large, hard feathers to a hat, and making sure that they're tightly fastened is not what the feather ban is all about. I know that as this event gets larger and larger, there is the need to keep the masses in line. We all get that glazed look in our eye as we repeat the obedience mantra, "if it not from your body, don't put it in the potty". While there is a huge reason for it, we are becoming managed sheep.This hat that's being made, is not what the feather ban is all about. There, I said it!

I am pretty proud of myself for not peeing on the playa last year. One night i had to go terribly terribly bad and I was high tailing it to the porto poties with a raging urinary boner.... of course, along comes a friendly person going around and hugging each person he passes and then I deny them the hug and truck it past them quite quickly. I hope they found it in their hearts to forgive me.

Packoderm wrote:Perhaps you can make a clear plexiglass enclosure that completely covers your head-wear and seals around your head - like a terrarium for your hat.

Haha, i actually thought about doing something similar to this, involving brightly colored mesh fabric that would encase the hat and ensure nothing escaped.

Shambala wrote:There are rules for not peeing on the playa and the reason for this is that they don't want 50,000 pissing on the playa and making muddy, sloppy pee puddles all over the place all week. Most everyone abides by this rule and uses the porta-potties, but there is that one time during the week where you are a mile from the potties and your bladder is going to burst.Rules are there for a reason, but there can be some flexibility. The feather rule is for the dopes who bring their pink boas to the playa and flap them around and let the feathers fly off. Securing large, hard feathers to a hat, and making sure that they're tightly fastened is not what the feather ban is all about. I know that as this event gets larger and larger, there is the need to keep the masses in line. We all get that glazed look in our eye as we repeat the obedience mantra, "if it not from your body, don't put it in the potty". While there is a huge reason for it, we are becoming managed sheep.This hat that's being made, is not what the feather ban is all about. There, I said it!

I am pretty proud of myself for not peeing on the playa last year. One night i had to go terribly terribly bad and I was high tailing it to the porto poties with a raging urinary boner.... of course, along comes a friendly person going around and hugging each person he passes and then I deny them the hug and truck it past them quite quickly. I hope they found it in their hearts to forgive me.

Um...if you need to be proud for not peeing on the playa, I think we have a bigger problem than feathers. Seriously.

Packoderm wrote:Perhaps you can make a clear plexiglass enclosure that completely covers your head-wear and seals around your head - like a terrarium for your hat.

Haha, i actually thought about doing something similar to this, involving brightly colored mesh fabric that would encase the hat and ensure nothing escaped.

Shambala wrote:There are rules for not peeing on the playa and the reason for this is that they don't want 50,000 pissing on the playa and making muddy, sloppy pee puddles all over the place all week. Most everyone abides by this rule and uses the porta-potties, but there is that one time during the week where you are a mile from the potties and your bladder is going to burst.Rules are there for a reason, but there can be some flexibility. The feather rule is for the dopes who bring their pink boas to the playa and flap them around and let the feathers fly off. Securing large, hard feathers to a hat, and making sure that they're tightly fastened is not what the feather ban is all about. I know that as this event gets larger and larger, there is the need to keep the masses in line. We all get that glazed look in our eye as we repeat the obedience mantra, "if it not from your body, don't put it in the potty". While there is a huge reason for it, we are becoming managed sheep.This hat that's being made, is not what the feather ban is all about. There, I said it!

I am pretty proud of myself for not peeing on the playa last year. One night i had to go terribly terribly bad and I was high tailing it to the porto poties with a raging urinary boner.... of course, along comes a friendly person going around and hugging each person he passes and then I deny them the hug and truck it past them quite quickly. I hope they found it in their hearts to forgive me.

Um...if you need to be proud for not peeing on the playa, I think we have a bigger problem than feathers. Seriously.

I take pride in lots of little things Don't worry I am a very respectful person.

Saying, "Well, I can do it because I'm a REAL burner, not a tourist" is an assholey attitude.

Why's it so fucking hard to just say "Ok, you've asked me not to bring feathers, so I won't."

You have 50 other weeks to wear it as much as you want.

As someone who's done the MOOP patrol, and picked up feathers both whole and broken, bellydance sequins, coins and beads and all the little things that people bring "anyways," just be nice and listen to the request by the people who are putting this shindig together for you.

I have been wondering if they feel the same way about the feather extensions you can get in your hair. They are clamped in, and they don't "shed" or whatever, they don't produce moop..

Any feather can become brittle and lose the tiny "branches" off the quill. Even those pretty pretty ones nobody thinks will be MOOP. They can, given the right conditions, and I'm thinking the playa is just that place.

That's one trend I'll be glad to see go, the birds die to give them those hair extensions. I don't mind eating chickens, but don't like that they die for vanity.

AntiM wrote: I don't mind eating chickens, but don't like that they die for vanity.

Not that I want to see feather moop, but the two things are not mutually exclusive. Most feathers sold are a by product of food production. The feathers are removed before butchering / eating anyway.

The same way they don't throw away the beef just because they wanted some leather.

Savannah: I don't know what it is, but no thread here escapes alive. You'll get 1 or 2 real answers at minimum, occasionally 10 or 12, and then we flog it until it's unrecognizable and you can't get your deposit back.

I have been wondering if they feel the same way about the feather extensions you can get in your hair. They are clamped in, and they don't "shed" or whatever, they don't produce moop..

Any feather can become brittle and lose the tiny "branches" off the quill. Even those pretty pretty ones nobody thinks will be MOOP. They can, given the right conditions, and I'm thinking the playa is just that place.

That's one trend I'll be glad to see go, the birds die to give them those hair extensions. I don't mind eating chickens, but don't like that they die for vanity.

I just wonder if Gate is going to need sheers this year...

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

AntiM wrote: I don't mind eating chickens, but don't like that they die for vanity.

Not that I want to see feather moop, but the two things are not mutually exclusive. Most feathers sold are a by product of food production. The feathers are removed before butchering / eating anyway.

The same way they don't throw away the beef just because they wanted some leather.

Actually, I think she's talking about those hair extension things that come from roosters. The roosters are usually not eaten. It's some sort of fad thing, and even fishing shops are getting depleted by people dressing their hair up with saddle feathers.

"The essence of tyranny is not iron law. It is capricious law." -- Christopher Hitchens